> On May 8, 2024, at 7:56 AM, CAREY SCHUG via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> 
> wrote:
> 
> At a local linux meeting, the leader was disparaging any resurrection of old 
> technology
> 
> Anybody else reminded of the science fiction story where ethereal life forms 
> arrive from a distant star system after receiving our first radio 
> transmissions.  life that eats radio and electricity, starting with the 
> frequencies of our first transmissions, but then mutating(?) to all radio, 
> then electricity even in wires, and wiping out all communications, vehicles, 
> etc.  There is a desperate project to resurrect steam engines (to build other 
> steam engines) and breed horses.  All those steam train museums turn out to 
> be what saves humanity.  just now I realized..shouldn't they also consume all 
> the light too?  But I guess they can't go beyond microwaves.

"The Waveries" by Fredric Brown, 1945.  Never mind the bit about light; the 
author missed the fact that Diesel engines don't need electricity, and also the 
fact that thunder can't happen without lightning.

        paul

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